All Forum Posts by: Christopher Parsons

@Lorenzo Swinton have you looked into the BRRRR strategy yet? Great way to leverage and expand quickly. In your case as well, you could use the strategy with a HELOC or a cash out refi. From what I understand, a lot of banks don't really do HELOCs on investment properties. You'll have to do some shopping around to find a bank that does do it. If you can't find one, then cash out refi is the way to go.

@Jay Hinrichs very true. With the digging deeper part, you would have to verify that the Title company is legit. But yeah, private money is something you look for, it doesn't look for you unless you're a big name.

@Himanish Gupta first off, yeah, scam. Second, if you're ever in doubt about a loan like this, look to see if the contract includes "underwriting fees" or anything of that nature. If not, ask them before you sign anything. If they do, which they usually will because loan origination can be on a legit loan, ask them if you can wire that fee to Title to be released to them upon closing on the property.

What I have found is in the case of a scammer, they'll usually tell you they have some in house process, blah blah blah. In that case, run away. If they say that's acceptable, then dig a bit deeper.

@Lawrence Chen if you haven't already, I would recommend reading David Greene's book "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing". He brings up a lot of great information on how to go about building your core 4 (your team out there) and whatnot.

@Ciaran Hyman-Martin Propelio has an academy section of their website that has a course on wholesaling. Its got a lot of great information, but isn't too state specific, so you'd still have to do a bit more research and asking around about specific legalities and whatnot. Still, great information that any wholesaler can use.

@Mike Chavan are you looking just for standard buy and hold or are you looking to BRRRR? If you're just looking to buy and hold, you'd just have to shop around with different lenders, probably local to that area. You'd also want to be honest in case you get into any sort of tax or legal issue, so you'll want to be upfront about it being an investment property. A 2nd home would be more of a personal vacation property. As for team, I'd start with a deal finder. In a lot of states property managers have to have their real estate license, so that would be a good bet. They might have deals for you, should know handy men, and might even have some contractors they'd recommend since they tend to work with investors more than your average real estate agent. They should also be able to refer you to a good lender for what your goals are.

A great resource for this is David Greene's book "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing". He talking in depth on how to build a team and its information I've taken to heart. I got lucky and found a wholesaler with great character who has connected me to all my team members. Feel free to message me if you have other questions as well.

@Melinda A. Harleaux not sure what your current situation is there in LA, but you might be able to take advantage of an expensive market like the one you're in. If you haven't already, you should listen to BiggerPockets Podcast episode 392. The guy they interviewed used house hacking and rented out his houses by the room. He'd basically live there for a year and move into another house to build his portfolio. He only has 6 houses and he makes $12,500 a month after all expenses (including maid service). That was all done up here in Seattle.

Another thing to keep in mind is cash flow today is not the same as tomorrow. @Brandon Turner pointed out that some of the Midwest markets only raise rent by about 1% or so on average whereas some of the coastal markets might rise by 5% or higher on average. That means 5 years from now a negative cash flow property in your area could wind up bringing you in significantly more cash.

Just things to think about.

@Antonio Figueroa you might need an attorney to set up the LLC and an accountant on the back end for taxes and whatnot. I use Mark Kohler's firm since they do legal and have a sister company that does accounting. They focus primarily on Real Estate and operate in all 50 states which is convenient if you decided to do out of state investing. KKOS Lawyers is their firm. Mark also has some great content for free on YouTube if you ever want to nerd out on the tax and legal side of REI.

@Ryan Rabinowitz first off, awesome that you're thinking this way right out of gate. I'd say figure out what you want your goals to be and keep educating yourself on different strategies to see which ones fit into helping you reach those goals.

That said, I would highly recommend listening to episode 392 of BiggerPockets Podcast. Great episode about a guy here in Seattle who house hacked, rents by the room, and now makes $12,500 on only 6 properties after expenses. I would do this strategy myself, but I have my wife, my daughter, and another kid on the way. We could still house hack, but more along the lines of small multifamily. If you can take advantage of renting by the room though, you're not just stuck to small multifamily properties. Just keep in mind you'll have to make sure you're in a similar market.

@Anthony Zamora Propelio has a free academy online that has a Wholesale course. I think what you need to ask yourself is, how involved do you have to be. Wholesaling is awesome, but its also more generally ran like a business.

No matter what you do in Real Estate investing, you either need to pay in time or money. If you can only pay in time, wholesale is a great way to start building up the money for other investing strategies. It will also teach you the essentials for being successful in your endeavors, and that making your money on the buy. If you have a lot of money (or make a lot of money at another job), you have other options as well. Just depends on you.

I know for me, my wife has a pretty awesome job that pays well. We're taking her incoming and doing out of state BRRRRs. I, on the other hand, am a stay at home dad with my daughter. I decided to get into wholesaling so that we could accelerate our growth. My plan is to take some time making money while learning how to find the best deals. From. There, I will start flipping, then I will get into other strategies as well. In a sense, I'm treating it like a building block to long term success.

You should take a weekend to really think of what you want your goals to be. Do you want to be more passive? If so, how can you invest while being more hands off? Do you put in some time? Buy turnkey? Become a private lender or equity partner with someone who has time?

Or, do you want to be more hands on and use less money? If so, how do you build your skillset? What do you need to educate yourself on? How will this build into long term wealth?